# Using the Stays Help

This online help provides three basic kinds of information about the TripServices APIs: Guides, API references, and workflow diagrams.

### Guides

Each functional area of managing travel with the TripServices APIs has a Guide. Guides cover basic concepts and usage information. In addition to the functional guide, any API with a lengthy request and response has its own guide as well. Most API guides include layout diagrams illustrating the basic structure of that API's request and response.

### API References

For every API, an API Reference provides object-level details including supported formats and values. API references always include:

- method and endpoint
- any query parameters
- reference tables for the request and response
- request and response examples


### Workflows

Many of the TripServices APIs are linked together in workflows. For example, you must send a search request before you can create a reservation. The workflow diagrams provide a high-level overview of the Stays API call workflow.

### Notes and Warnings

Each page for a Guide, API Reference, and Workflow uses a standard format to present the same types of information consistently across the help.

Notes like this are called out with a light blue background color.

and

Information that can help prevent an unexpected result or error message is called out with a yellow background color.

### Search Tips

If you've checked the guide and the API reference for an API and/or its functional area without finding what you need, try a search at the top of any page.

All supported objects are documented in the help. To search for technical details in the API reference, enter the exact object name; e.g., *PropertyKey* instead of *property key*.

For terms, use quotation marks as needed. For example, "passive segment" returns results with the phrase *passive segment*. However, *passive segment* without quotation marks returns all pages that have both words (*passive* and *segment*) anywhere in the page.

The search is not case-sensitive, and you can enter partial words using at least four characters. Words with variant endings are returned in results. For example, a search for *book* returns topics with book, booking, and booked.

The search supports the following symbols and Boolean operators, which are not case-sensitive:

- **AND** or plus (**+**) or ampersand (**&**) narrows the search to only topics that contain all of the words in the same topic but not necessarily together as a phrase.
- **OR** a pipe (**|**) broadens the results by retrieving topics that contain any of the words it separates.
- **NOT** a caret (**^**) finds topics that contain one term but not the other.